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Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.

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Picture this. It's October, and you're in the

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middle of one of the most transformative

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experiences of your career. You're at the Becker's

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fall future of dentistry roundtable in the vibrant

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city of Chicago, fresh off an incredible 3

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days at the Hyatt Regency. Imagine yourself inspired

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and invigorated after attending captivating keynote sessions by

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none other than the legendary boxing world champion

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and CEO, Lila Elite, and the extraordinary professional

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basketball player, Caitlin Clark. See yourself engaged in

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lively discussions, exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack

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of business cards from fellow dental experts and

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potential partners. You've networked with over 350

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attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers

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who are at the forefront of dental innovation.

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You sat in on educational sessions exploring topics

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that elevate dental care as a critical element

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of whole person health. You've witnessed firsthand how

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digital technology is revolutionizing

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patient outcomes

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and how both large DSOs and independent practices

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are flourishing.

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Get ready to transform your career and don't

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miss out on this incredible opportunity. The Becker's

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fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October

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30th to November 1, 2024.

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Get registered by going to beckersdental.com

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and clicking on the events page.

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Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.

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I am Mariah Mohammed, writer and moderator with

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Becker's Healthcare. And I'm thrilled to have with

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me today doctor Gabriela Risco, partner and orthodontist

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at Great Expressions Dental Centers. Gabriela, welcome to

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the Becker's Healthcare podcast. We're very excited to

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have you join us today. To get us

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started, would you mind please introducing yourself and

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telling us a bit about your background?

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Yes. Well, thank you. I'm happy to be

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here.

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My name is doctor Gabriela Ritzko,

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and I'm a partner and, orthodontist at Great

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Expression

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Dental Center.

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So I've been there for

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about 12 years, and it's been a wonderful

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journey as,

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I've sort of grown the orthodontics in the

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northeast.

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Prior to that, I

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grew up outside of Boston, went to college

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there, then made my way to New York

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City where I, went to Columbia for dental

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school.

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And then I worked for a couple years

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and did a residency in orthodontics at Yukon.

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After that, I

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came back to New York City where I

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worked as an orthodontist in a multispecialty

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group in the city, and I also worked

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as an associate in,

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in orthodontic practice. And then after a few

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years,

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you know, I realized that I didn't wanna

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have my own practice necessarily, but I didn't

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wanna, you know, be an associate

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the whole time and,

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you know, just work for someone else. So

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I started exploring options,

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and that's where,

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you know, the DSO, Great Expressions,

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was a,

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great opportunity.

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They had a, pathway to partnership model,

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and it was something that really excited me.

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And, we've grown, and it's been wonderful.

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Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving

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us that background. In 12 years, that's definitely

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amazing. I'm sure you've learned a lot while

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being there and continue to do so.

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So being so well into here, what are

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some of the biggest issues you're following at

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dental?

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Yeah. Well, I mean, I think one of

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the biggest issues, you know, that a lot

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of people are talking about is just

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the labor shortages,

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the staffing shortages

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that have really, you know, sort of taken

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off since COVID.

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And that has led to

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challenges within the workforce and a strain on

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the current assistance, clinicians, team members there.

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So I think,

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people have to be mindful about how they

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approach

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hiring now where

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they might not be able to get someone

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for that full time position. So they have

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to be creative and flexible to think, okay,

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maybe we can get 2 people part time.

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And so, you know, that's a very big

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issue because if you don't have the people

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that are working for you, you're not gonna

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be able to, you know, produce and grow

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your business. So that's one of the biggest

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ones and, you know, I think just the

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big boom in technology, there's a great

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a great time for dentistry. There's a lot

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of technologies

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that are coming out that are you know,

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people are evaluating,

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trying to implement into

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their practice, and I think it's imperative that

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those technologies

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are integrated well to help the clinician

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and, you know, enhance the patient experience and

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yield a great clinical outcome.

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Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I I completely understand what

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you're saying. It seems like every, you know,

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executive I speak to kinda says the exact

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same thing, at least for this year.

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Is there anything that you are most excited

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about or anything that is making you nervous,

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whether it's something that you're seeing in the

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news,

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or anything that you're personally experiencing?

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Well, I think sort of a little bit

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what we you know, what I've reiterated

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is, you know, with the

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shortage in staffing, the current workforce is under

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more strain.

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And so I think it's important that doctor

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burnout, team member burnout, that that is addressed.

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And so I know a lot of the,

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you know, DSO have come up with employee

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engagement

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programs in ways that, you know, team building

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activities to help

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relieve some of that stress. I mean, we

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all know that dentistry is a very personal

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business.

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So you're constantly

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face to face with individuals,

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and so it's nice to have an outlet

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to, you know, relieve some of that stress

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of those, you know, very personal interactions.

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I think,

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you know, some of the new technologies like,

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I look at the scanner,

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you know, from, you know, when we got

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one probably about 7 years ago, how that

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has really changed

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in orthodontics, our workflow,

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as well as taken off a lot of

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work on, you know, the assistance. There's no

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more pouring up models.

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There's no more tilling bands in the lab.

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And on the flip side, for the patient

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experience,

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they don't have to have that gooey gross

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impression. That's what everyone hated. We don't just

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fit fans anymore, which would pressure the separators.

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So

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things like that, the technology that overall enhance

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the patient experience and also make the job

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of the doctor or team member a little

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bit easier.

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Or,

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you know, team member a little bit easier.

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Got it. Got it. Thank you so much

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for giving us that explanation. And, doctor, before

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I let you go, the last thing I

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really wanted to ask you is, what would

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the most

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effective health care leaders need in order to

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be successful in the next 2 to 3

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years, do you think?

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Yeah. I mean, I think they'll need, you

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know, adaptability

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to sort of change with the current time

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or,

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the current landscape sort of from a macro

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environment as far as

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inflation,

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high rates, how that affects the landscape.

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They'll need resilience because you're not always

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gonna make the right choices or you might

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try to implement something and it works for

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some people, not others. So you have to

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be, you know, resilient to realize you might

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fail, but you gotta come up and and

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try some new ways that'll make you stronger.

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And, you know, I also think creativity, as

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I sort of said earlier,

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you know, as far as the employers being

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able to adapt to, you know, maybe the

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workforce not always wanting full time or,

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you know, needing certain hours, that's gonna be

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crucial, you know, so that they can be

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creative in in finding

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a team that works for them.

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Yeah. Great, great advice. Thank you so much,

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doctor, for those final thoughts. It's definitely been

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an informative discussion. So, again, I wanna thank

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you so much for coming on Becker's HealthCare,

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and I look forward to connecting again with

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you soon. Thank you so much. Thank you

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for the opportunity. Have a wonderful day. Of

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course. You too.